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A justice minister has pledged to look into the ‘serious’ case of a British academic whose claim that she was raped by a US Air Force jet pilot was dealt with by an American court martial rather than a criminal court.
Jake Richards said there would be a 'thorough and objective' look at what happened to Sarah Steele, who claimed she was drugged and strangled by Captain Jacob Wulfson before he had sex with her without consent in his apartment.
The case would normally have been heard at a crown court where a jury would hear the evidence and a judge hand down the sentence upon conviction.
Instead, the federal law enforcement agency ‘negotiated jurisdiction’ with Cambridgeshire Police and it was agreed the US ‘would take the lead’, the Guardian reported, despite the alleged offence happening in Cambridge when the defendant was off-duty.
Ms Steele said the court martial at RAF Lakenheath - where decorated aviator Wulfson flew advanced F-35 fighters jets and was known by his call sign ‘Lone’ – was a ‘degrading’ and ‘aggressive’ process which ‘became a character assassination’.
Wulfson faced a charge of ‘aggravated sexual assault’ rather than rape under US military law and his case was heard by a panel of eight air force officers, all men who were stationed at the same base.
He was found not guilty of the charge following the combative hearing where it is claimed Ms Steele was depicted as sex-obsessed and financially motivated.
Wulfson was convicted of two charges - strangling Ms Steele and wilfully disobeying a commander’s orders not to contact his victim after the assault.
Captain Jacob Wulfson was allowed to face serious charges including the alleged sex offence at a court martial at the US base where he serves, RAF Lakenheath, instead of a British criminal court
Commenting on the case yesterday, justice minister Jake Richards told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there would be a ‘really thorough and objective look at this case’.
He added: ‘It’s a really serious case… I’m going to take it back to the Ministry of Justice and make sure that we are looking into the details of this.’
Ms Steele, who waived her right to anonymity, described her ordeal as ‘incredibly distressing and degrading’, adding: ‘At times I was treated incredibly aggressively and I felt like I was on trial and it became a character assassination.
‘People are attacking you with assertions that are trying to undermine [you], say that you’re lying.’
The court martial heard that the pair began talking to each other through dating app Tinder in September 2023 and met for the first time on December 1, after they had exchanged sexually charged messages.
Before arriving at Wulfson’s flat, Ms Steele, then 39, messaged ‘ground rules’ that included ‘no means no… no hands on my neck… condoms please’.
They drank some whisky and moved to the airman’s bedroom where the academic said ‘things sped up really quite fast’.
The prosecution said etizolam, a powerful central nervous system depressant banned in the UK and sometimes called ‘street Valium’, had somehow entered Ms Steele’s system, although the defendant was cleared of the allegation.
Acadmic Sarah Steele claimed she was drugged and strangled by Wulfson before he had sex with her without consent in his apartment
RAF Lakenheath in west Suffolk has more than 6,000 personnel plus family members, boasts a shopping mall, drive-thru Taco Bell and uses dollars as currency
She said Wulfson, who was 29, penetrated her without a condom but she ‘couldn’t speak’ because ‘his hand was on my neck’.
The court martial heard she later woke up, naked, in a bath of cold water and he drove her home after she spent the afternoon drifting in and out of sleep.
An A&E doctor later noted bruising on her face and body and she went to a sexual assault referral centre where a urine sample and photos were taken.
However, the images and forensic examination, which included DNA evidence, was not admissible as evidence under US law applied to the hearing.
US air force police arrested Wulfson within 24 hours but at the court martial his lawyer, Tim Bilecki, claimed Ms Steele’s injuries were caused by her ‘freaking out’ because of a previous assault and headbutting the pilot.
Mr Bilecki, it was reported, also said his client had been ‘set up for money’ and described her as a drug abuser, suggesting she had decided to ‘pop a few pills before going to meet a fighter pilot significantly younger than her’. Ms Steele strongly denied the claims as false.
In closing submissions, he said Ms Steele, who had been reduced to tears at times, ‘loves the attention of all this’.
Following his convictions on the two charges, Wulfson – who had flown missions in Afghanistan and was trained to carry nuclear weapons – was allowed to choose whether the judge, US Colonel Brian Thompson, or the panel would sentence him.
Justice minister Jake Richards said there would be a 'really thorough and objective look at this case'
He chose the panel, which imposed a six-month sentence – the maximum term was 13 years - to be served at RAF Lakenheath’s correction facility where inmates take on work around the base.
The largest US base in Britain, situated in West Suffolk, Lakenheath has more than 6,000 personnel plus family members, boasts a shopping mall, drive-thru Taco Bell and uses dollars as currency.
Wulfson was also formally reprimanded and dismissed from the air force, leaving him with a permanent record as a convicted felon and with implications for veteran benefits.
He will be free to fly home to the US in September. An automatic review of the case will be held by an air force appeals panel at a military base in Maryland in due course.
West Suffolk Tory MP Nick Timothy said he had written to Justice Secretary David Lammy demanding a review.
He said: ‘The case should have been fully investigated by the English police and prosecuted in our courts.’
Cambridgeshire Police were approached for a comment but, according to the Guardian, said they had agreed the Americans ‘would take investigative primacy’.
A US air force spokesman said the military justice process “includes strict procedural safeguards by design to ensure proceedings are fair, transparent and thorough'.
He added: 'Maintaining the trust that underpins our partnership, while ensuring accountability and the fair administration of discipline, remains our priority.'
In a statement, Mr Bilecki said that prosecutors could have charged Wulfson with rape but had opted not to. He also pointed out his client was acquitted of the sexual assault allegation.
Apologies texted by Wulfson after the incident referred to the fact Ms Steele had left his home ‘looking like she had been in a fight'.
He added: 'Obviously, the night had not gone as planned.'